1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to toys that are spring loaded and pop up into the air when activated. More particularly, the present invention relates to toys having an invertible spring element that stores the energy needed to pop the toy into the air.
2. Prior Art Description
There are many objects that are only stable in either a resting condition or an inverted condition. In the toy industry, the most common of such objects is the half-ball. Rubber balls were originally made from two hemispherical pieces of rubber that were glued together to form the shape of the ball. As the balls were played with, it was not uncommon for the two halves of the ball to separate. A child, playing with the ball would then have two half balls. Half-balls were so common that many childhood games required the use of a “half-ball”.
One game played with a half-ball involved inverting the half-ball so that it would pop. When a half-ball is inverted it stores energy like a spring. If the inverted half-ball were dropped or touched, the half-ball would pop back into its hemispherical shape, thereby releasing the stored energy. The popping action of the half-ball would cause the half-ball to fly up into the air.
Recognizing the play value of half-balls, toy manufacturers began to intentionally manufacture half-balls and configure the half-balls to optimize the popping action. Such half-balls are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 2,153,957 to Davis, entitled Jumping ball, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,803,033 to Walterscheid, entitled Pop Action Toy. Furthermore, secondary objects, such as dolls and superheroes have been attached to half-balls. In this manner, when the half-ball pops and flies into the air, so does the toy character. Half-balls that carry secondary characters are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,538 to Willett, entitled Pop-Action Bouncing Doll.
Half-ball popping toys have certain problems that are inherent with their design. If a half-ball is made from a material that is too thick or has too high a durometer, then the half-ball will not remain inverted for long. As soon as the half-ball is inverted, the half-ball begins to bend back toward its original hemispherical shape. The half-ball will therefore pop back into its hemispherical shape only a few moments after it is inverted. Conversely, if a half-ball is made too thin or with a material that has too low a durometer, then the half ball will not store much energy when it is inverted and will not pop into the air. Consequently, half-balls have to be made using a substantial volume of high quality rubber or synthetic rubber. Furthermore, half-balls have to be made using precise manufacturing conditions. For these reasons, half-balls that are designed to be inverted and pop up cannot be manufactured inexpensively.
The present invention represents an improvement in the art of invertible pop action toys. The present invention replaces the body of a rubber half-ball with a pre-bent flat spring. The result is an invertible pop action toy that can be manufactured far easier and far more economically than can a rubber pop action toy. The details of the present invention are described and claimed below.